# Living with this for at least 4 years - Ready to face surgery **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [July 12, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://forum.livingwitheagle.org/t/living-with-this-for-at-least-4-years-ready-to-face-surgery/1440 "2016-07-12T20:13:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 2
**Author:** ![Jules](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.livingwitheagle.org/jules/32/404_2.png) [@Jules](https://forum.livingwitheagle.org/u/Jules)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://forum.livingwitheagle.org/t/living-with-this-for-at-least-4-years-ready-to-face-surgery/1440/2 "2016-07-12T20:40:21Z")
Hi Tuskgirl, and sorry to hear about your very long and painful journey… sadly nothing new with ES, but that’s no consolation! There was a useful discussion recently about what some of the docs like to see before you go to visit them: > [@CT neck non-contrast "styloid protocol"?](http://forum.livingwitheagle.org/t/ct-neck-non-contrast-styloid-protocol/1016): > > One of our forum members was recently in contact with Dr. Samji’s assistant. In the past, Dr. Samji and his assistant both told me that he only wants to see the CT scan (with contrast was better) and that he didn’t want to see the scan reports. He wanted to do the evaluation himself based on the scan. But it looks like they changed that now. Dr. Samji’s assistant said in an email: “ So the only way to diagnose (mostly) Eagles syndrome is a CT neck non-contrast "styloid protocol" which means… A CT with contrast could be useful to see if there is any vascular involvement for your peace of mind etc. as you might be having some vascular symptoms- but it seems that not all the docs need them. Hope this helps and hopefully others can chip in with this! Dr Samji and Dr Cognetti certainly seem to be the most experienced with this, so it’s good if you’re able to travel to see either of them. --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.livingwitheagle.org/t/living-with-this-for-at-least-4-years-ready-to-face-surgery/1440)._